Milano Centrale

Working within Milano Centrale means engaging with one of the city’s most iconic places and, at the same time, one of its most complex urban systems. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people pass through the station not only to travel, but also to meet, work, pause, access services, and experience a significant part of urban life. Developed following the victory of an invited competition promoted by Grandi Stazioni Retail, Park’s project for the redesign of the ground floor and mezzanine level stems from a reflection on the contemporary role of railway stations. Historically conceived primarily as infrastructures of transit, these places now operate as complex urban systems, spaces of permanence and exchange where mobility, commerce, and public life increasingly intersect. Conceived at the beginning of the twentieth century and completed in 1931 to a design by Ulisse Stacchini, Milano Centrale represents one of the most important examples of European infrastructural architecture. More than a railway station, the building functions as a true urban gateway, a place where mobility, representation, and public life converge in a monumental composition of extraordinary complexity. Its identity derives from the layering of different languages, materials, and influences: an eclectic synthesis in which the monumentality of spaces, the richness of decoration, and the quality of light create a unique architectural experience. Over time, the station has accompanied the evolution of the city, adapting to new needs and undergoing successive transformations without losing its symbolic value. It is precisely this stratification, together with the building’s ability to interpret the changing role of urban infrastructure, that constitutes the starting point of the project. Intervening within Milano Centrale therefore means engaging not only with an architectural heritage of exceptional significance, but also with a living organism that continues to redefine its relationship with Milan and with the people who pass through it every day.

The guiding question of the project was therefore simple: how can a commercial gallery become an integral part of the station’s architectural and urban experience? The area addressed by the intervention occupies a relatively recent layer in the history of Milano Centrale. Until the early 2000s, these spaces housed the station’s luggage storage facilities and did not possess the architectural qualities that characterize the station’s monumental elements. Subsequent transformations, culminating in the construction of the commercial gallery and moving walkways, introduced new functions without succeeding in establishing a coherent relationship with the building’s identity. Spatial perception became fragmented, orientation less intuitive, and the relationship between the city level and the railway platforms appeared weak and barely perceptible. Park’s proposal addresses this condition by reimagining the gallery as an integral component of Milano Centrale’s spatial system. A space capable of re-establishing a clearer relationship between the city level and the platforms, improving the passenger experience, and reconnecting the dialogue with the station’s historic galleries and halls. Overlooking Piazza Duca d’Aosta, Piazza Luigi di Savoia, and Piazza IV Novembre, Milano Centrale is not only an infrastructural node, but a place of encounter between different parts of the city and different forms of mobility. The ambition is not simply to rethink an existing space, but to transform it into a recognizable urban environment capable of generating social, environmental, and economic value. To achieve this result, the project begins with a re-reading of the station’s foundational characteristics. The analysis identified three main elements: the monumentality of space, the presence of natural light, and the extraordinary material and linguistic richness of the building. Monumentality is reinterpreted through a recalibration of proportions and visual relationships. The reduction of selected portions of the mezzanine re-establishes a more direct connection between the commercial level and the platforms, expanding spatial perception and restoring visibility to existing architectural elements. New voids and openings improve the overall legibility of the environment and introduce a form of natural wayfinding, in which architecture itself guides movement. Light is the second generative element of the project. While the monumental spaces of the station are defined by a strong presence of natural light, the commercial gallery was previously almost completely deprived of it. The new luminous ceiling system stems from the observation of the skylights and structural systems of the Mosaic Gallery, reinterpreting their geometries through a contemporary language. The result is a diffused light that enhances spatial quality and reinforces the public character of the environment. The third theme concerns materiality. Milano Centrale is the result of a complex layering of marble, brass, wrought iron, decorative elements, and crafted details that contribute to its identity. The project develops a close reading of this heritage, extracting colours, textures, and compositional principles to construct a contemporary material palette. Warm metallic finishes dialogue with Botticino marble and historic handrails; the vertical rhythm of new elements echoes the pilasters of the station; and the flooring patterns reinterpret the marble geometries of the main halls, extending them into the gallery. This approach is reflected across all components of the intervention. The internal façades of the commercial gallery are redesigned to establish a coherent and unified identity. New storefronts engage with the architectural language of the station through proportions, materials, and details directly derived from the analysis of the existing building. The pillars are also reinterpreted as elements of orientation and illumination, integrating indirect lighting and cladding systems that enhance spatial continuity while lightening their volumetric presence. At the same time, the project intervenes in the Historic Hall, restoring its original function. Ticket offices return to the position for which they were originally conceived, re-establishing a spatial logic that had gradually been altered over time. Existing commercial volumes are redesigned through lighter and more orderly structures, capable of freeing views toward the historic portals and reinforcing the monumental character of the space. The intervention thus defines a new identity for a part of the station that had, until now, appeared detached from the rest of the building. Through a contemporary re-reading of its architectural characteristics, Milano Centrale regains spatial continuity, material coherence, and perceptual clarity. More than a commercial refurbishment, the project represents a reflection on the contemporary role of urban infrastructure. At a time when railway stations are increasingly required to accommodate a wide range of functions, Milano Centrale is interpreted as an open civic space, capable of generating new relationships between mobility, services, and urban life, while maintaining a profound dialogue with its architectural heritage.